$3M boost for tree replanting

WORCESTER 
Tree replanting efforts got a big boost tonight when Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray announced $3 million in new state funding to support replanting efforts in the city and area communities at a ceremony at the Green Hill golf course.

Wal-Mart, which before tonight had already given $150,000 toward tree replanting, also announced it is giving another $50,000 directly to the Worcester Tree Initiative.

Peggy Middaugh and Mary Knittle of the Worcester Tree Initiative said tonight they are about 23,000 trees into an effort to replant 30,000 trees by 2014.

The initiative was formed in 2009 in the wake of the devastation caused by the removal of trees infested or threatened by the Asian longhorned beetle. The group has also worked to replace trees lost because of the ice storm of 2008.

The initiative has involved collaboration among the city, the state Department of Conservation of Recreation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and local nonprofits, businesses, and residents. The $3 million in state funding announced last night will not go directly to the tree initiative, but the private nonprofit will likely benefit from the increased funding.

The 30,000-tree goal certainly seems within reach, but Ms. Middaugh and Ms. Knittle both said tonight they envision the organization continuing in some form. Ms. Middaugh said there has been too much invested in replanting trees, developing a stewardship program, and educating residents about planting and taking care of them to let the initiative expire.

Mr. Murray tonight talked about the importance of public-private partnerships in creating a sustained effort to reforest the area. He said he thinks it will eventually be recognized nationally as a best-practices model, and he also recognized CSX for its contributions through its Trees for Tracks program.

Mayor Joseph Petty said losing trees to the invasive beetle has been “like losing a member of the family,” and City Manager Michael V. O’Brien said that a new level of intensity has formed in the city to attack to the pest.

U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, who is from the Burncoat neighborhood, said the Asian longhorned beetle infestation made him realize how little he knew about trees, but it reinforced for him how important trees are to people. He said he remembers leaving for Washington, D.C., from a neighborhood full of trees, and returning to a barren landscape.

Mr. Murray said the $3 million in state funding is from the state capital budget, split into $1.5 million this year and $1.5 million next year. He urged people to continue to donate to the Worcester Tree Initiative, whether giving money or gifting a tree.